


The Map

by dreamiflame



Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies)
Genre: Multi, Polyficathon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-05-01
Updated: 2004-05-01
Packaged: 2017-11-21 23:34:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/603287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamiflame/pseuds/dreamiflame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elizabeth finds a map.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Map

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ceria_taliesin](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=ceria_taliesin).



> John for the beta, and my apologies if anyone else finds it excessively full of commas. Also, thanks to fabu for setting the polyficathon challenge up.

Elizabeth was the one who found the map.

'Found' might have been too kind a word, however: after their marriage, Elizabeth and Will had taken a honeymoon cruise to Tortuga and simply never returned to Port Royal. Instead, they had sought out Captain Jack Sparrow, whom they had both missed dearly, and joined his crew of pirates. Their first act had been to seduce the good captain, which Jack had said proved beyond doubt they were made to be pirates. Will had cocked his head to the side and grinned, while Elizabeth had carefully suppressed her giggles and nodded gravely. Jack had grinned and dragged them both back to bed.

Now, however, there was a map. Elizabeth waved it around, gesturing almost as wildly as Jack himself, and began telling the story again. Jack, frowning slightly, waved her to silence. "I know the tale, love." At her disbelieving look he shrugged fluidly, using his whole body for the moment. "I know all the tales, Elizabeth me lass. 'M a pirate, recall?"

Elizabeth, amusement and exasperation warring in her eyes, nodded. She looked much different from the sheltered girl Jack had used for his attempted escape in Port Royal: her skin was a warmer shade of tan, bronzed by the ever-present sun, and her hair had grown long and wild, tangled now into a loose braid down her slender back. She wore breeches and a loose shirt, ones he recognized as having been cut down to size from Will's things. Jack thought her almost as lovely as the sea in a storm, or the _Black Pearl_ at full sail.

Will, sitting pressed along his side, nudged him just before Jack felt the map sting his opposite shoulder. "Would you kindly listen to me, Captain Sparrow?" Elizabeth demanded, her eyes flashing. Jack glanced without moving his head at Will, saw that the whelp- his first mate now, though Anamaria could be counted on in a pinch- was enjoying himself thoroughly. Elizabeth raised the map again, and Jack pounced, snagging her wrist and pulling her down among them.

"Now see here, Miss Elizabeth," he said, fingers still trapping her wrist with its damnable map. "You mustn't hit the Captain, it's simply not done."

"Not even if he's the most exasperating pirate on the Spanish Main?" Elizabeth retorted, wriggling in an attempt to find her balance. Jack grinned at Will, who returned it and laid a stilling hand on his wife's stomach.

"Elizabeth, you know that doesn't matter," he pointed out, sounding extremely reasonable. Elizabeth made a face at him, which Jack half-saw as her struggles shifted her position on their laps. "Why _this_ map, though? Where did you get it?"

Appearing to give up finally, Elizabeth offered the map to Will, resting back against Jack. Cautiously, Jack released her hand, wrapping his arms instead around her waist, ready to hold her down. Elizabeth, he knew, could be extremely tricky, giving the appearance of being defeated while secretly just bidding her time to attack again. Jack did not fancy being played in that way.

Unrolling the map, Will leaned away from him slightly, holding the map out to see. Elizabeth seemed to study the map herself again, and even Jack found himself looking it over. A treasure map, Elizabeth had said. Not a cursed one, not like the Ilsa de Meurta's, but a treasure, pirate stolen and buried. There were stories of it, of course, but then, there were stories about everything, as well Jack Sparrow knew. He felt at times responsible for making sure that his true exploits lived up to the legend he made of himself, a task he found less than easy, much of the time.

"There was a man in the tavern, after you two had decided to go upstairs." Her pointed look over her shoulder make Jack grin at the remembrance. It wasn't as though he disliked Elizabeth and Will, far from it, but at times, it was nice to have one alone, without the other. They were younger, after all, and there was only so much one pirate, even Captain Jack Sparrow, was capable of. Elizabeth, obviously sensing where his thoughts were leading, brought him back to the present with a well-aimed elbow to the ribs. He gave her his 'I'm listening' expression, knowing that she would find the thought of him and innocence funny. Rolling her eyes, Elizabeth turned back to Will.

"He came up to Anamaria and I and told us of the map, offered to sell it to us. But his price was-" her lips thinned, and a look Jack recognized from the many battles they'd fought together crossed her face. "I will not say, though I am sure you can guess."

When she was displeased, or truly angry, Elizabeth often fell back on the prim, careful language she'd grown up with, the aristocratic wording escaping despite her best efforts. Jack found it amusing, as long as it wasn't directed at him: Elizabeth, God bless her, could be absolutely vicious when angered. "His form of wooing was not to your liking, eh?" he asked, and Elizabeth shot him a look of pure ice. Jack nuzzled at her neck, so very accessible in the position, nipping at the skin there until she relaxed again, slumping against him.

"No," she said, and a sudden giggle overtook her. "He made Anamaria even more angry than I. She threw the candle at his head."

Will chuckled, and Jack, always pragmatic, scanned the deck for the aforementioned sailor, not wanting to be caught laughing at her. Even more than Elizabeth, Anamaria could be vicious when antagonized, as well he remembered. But Anamaria was far from them, holding the wheel steady as they sailed, not listening as the three talked together. "I can just imagine," he said, once he established the coast was clear.

"He dropped the map when the candle came at him, and I merely picked it up and went to join you," Elizabeth continued, innocence dripping from her words. "I don't even think he knows what happened to it. But that's not the point." Prying his arms loose, she stood up, forcing Jack and Will to squint up at her. "Are we going to go after it? Buried treasure, Jack! No merchants to have to bully, no Spanish or French to kill. We can just go there with shovels and take it."

Jack stood, pressing his hands together in a slight bow. "Elizabeth, m'love," he said, keeping a careful distance from her. No telling how she might take the news. "The map's worthless, darling, everyone knows that."

She stilled, a look of confused annoyance on her face. Will joined them in standing, glancing from one to the other. What Jack truly liked about Will, other then his fine swordsmanship, and youthful exuberance in bed, not to mention his utterly lovely willingness to share his wife, was how Will was constantly willing to put himself in Elizabeth's way, allowing Jack to escape. There weren't, however, many places to hide on a ship, but usually by the time Elizabeth finally found him, Will had managed to make her more calm and less murderous. "What do you mean?" she asked, and Jack tried to took around for the best path of flight without looking like he was doing so.

"What I mean is, Elizabeth, love, that treasure was found years ago, by Barbossa and his crew, or so the stories went. There's nothing there, though if you'd like, we can go there anyway to prove it."

Deflated, Elizabeth uncrossed her arms, sighing heavily. Will took the needed step forward to take her into his arms and stroke her back, and Jack marvelled again at his good fortune in having the two of them. "Are you quite sure?" she asked, but there was no hope in her voice, and Jack knew she was only asking because she felt she had to.

"I'm positive, love," he said, and kissed her to take her mind off the disappointment. This led to several other actions that ended with Anamaria yelling at them to take it off the deck, and the three stumbling back into Jack's cabin to do just that. Later, sated and sleepy, Jack reflected on his good luck. It was good for him that Elizabeth had not pressed: terribly embarrassing to have to admit to being allergic to the plants that grew around a treasure. Better to let them think it was gone.


End file.
